


A Lesson In Time

by ProfessionalTsundere



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Gen, Time Loop, pre-release
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 04:55:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19986445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessionalTsundere/pseuds/ProfessionalTsundere
Summary: There is no such thing as a clean war. Every side has it's story and reason for strife. Maybe in time, we can learn what those reasons are.





	A Lesson In Time

**Author's Note:**

> It's 1:49 am PST right now so while technically it's not pre-release no sane person is playing fire emblem right now in my time zone. i hope.
> 
> i have work in the morning and i stayed up until 2 writing this. please stop me.

_ The first time was the hardest. She was new, nervous, and way in over her head. But it worked out in the end, for some people at least. _

Standing behind the podium, staring at eight eager to learn students, Byleth thought she might have made a mistake. Her father hadn’t really given her a choice when it came to accepting the job, but her house choice was obviously swayed by Dimitri’s talk of justice. Maybe she should have chosen Golden Deer, they seemed like an easier house for a first time teacher. But it was too late. Class had started and all the children- children, she’s calling them children when Mercedes is probably older than her- were seated and waiting patiently. Just grin and bear it, her father had said before leaving. So she did. Wearing the stiff smile used back when she would deal with the mercenary groups clients, Byleth began the first of many classes to come.

Five minute later found her doubled over laughing at Sylvain’s attempted flirtations and Ingrid’s swift retribution upon her friend. The room’s atmosphere seemed to lighten as the instructor wiped a tear from her eye, though Byleth didn’t notice over her panic of making a fool of herself. 

Shifting into a more respectable posture, Byleth cleared her throat and will down her blush before addressing her students with a nervous smile.

“Right, so now that introductions are done I’ll just need you to fill this handout. Put your names at the top, first box is what weapons you’re experienced in, second which weapons you’d like to learn, and the third is your magical affinity,” she stopped to take a breath, “then we’ll be headed to the outdoor training fields for an in-depth evaluation.” Her words were mimicked from the script she wrote the day before, looked over by both Manuella and Hanneman.

“Good job Annette. Be careful not to lose your balance next time.” Reaching out a hand, Byleth helped her student back to their feet as the bell rang out, signalling the end of classes. The students running drills started disengaging, postures relaxing and friendly banter rising. Well, Byleth hoped it was friendly.

“Ahh, before you go!” Byleth said, voice slightly cracking at the end, which she of course winced at. “Morning classes will be held inside, the same classroom as earlier, and after lunch we’ll be studying outside, weather permitting. Yes, a little mud counts as weather permitting.” Sylvain lowered his hand.

Byleth smiled and waved them off. “Go enjoy the rest of your day.”

Once the were gone she let out a sigh of relief, flopping back onto the grassy terrain. With a heavy sigh she sat up, but only to remove her boots. Once those were gone she happily starting relaxing in the waning afternoon sun.

“Careful there missy, don’t forget you’re wearing a skirt.”

“Eep!” Byleth bolted up, pulling her skirt lower before she saw who it was. “Dad! Don’t scare me like that!”

“Don’t tell me that that cushy professor job turned you soft already.”

“Of course not! I don’t actually think I could be more on edge…”

“That bad, huh? Well it’ll get better. Just treat them like you would new recruits.”

“Ughhhh… If all you’re planning on doing is embarrassing me can’t you leave. Let me suffer in peace.”

“Fine, fine. Move over, the sun feels good today.”

  
  


Jeralt wasn’t wrong though. It did get better, easier.

“Professor, how will knowing hand-to-hand help if we’re planning on being a healer?”

“Pressure points! They’ll make even the rowdiest patients lay in their cots.” She had learned that from experience. “Plus knowing a little self-defence is never bad.”

Her colleagues weren’t bad, even if they did play tricks on her.

“Ms. Manuella, are you  _ sure _ it’s mandatory for new teachers to have an… ‘advice box’?”

“Of course dear, especially when you have a first year class. It’s important to know if any of your students are having trouble.”

Byleth didn’t have the guts to ask why Hanneman was laughing behind his book then.

The students took her lessons seriously, so long as she was at least.

“Felix, you can’t defeat an entire squadron by yourself.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be teaching us to be stronger? If you say I can’t defeat them then  _ teach _ me to.”

“I will handcuff you to Mercedes next field trip, so help me.”

He took the professors threats more seriously after that.

And as she learned more about them, they endeared themselves to her.

“Okay who asked me to attend the ball with them using the advice box.”

No one noticed Ashe sinking slightly lower in his seat.

It really made her regret not being able to teach them longer.

“Agent of Nemesis, have you any last words?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

There was a thunderous crash before nothing was left.

  
  
  
  
  


Her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. People were moving, the world was moving around her, but nothing stuck, nothing made sense. Something warm splattered on her face, it stunk of iron, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that her grip stayed firm and  _ they _ weren’t hurt.

A heavy hand laid upon her shoulder, breaking the spell. Breathing laboured after an imagined eternity fighting to protect, she could do nothing but look up at her charge of past and present.

“It’s okay, they’re all gone.” Dimitri helped lower the accursed sword, the very one that branded her a heretic, as their allies approached. Mercedes side stepped many a corpse as she made her way to their former teacher.

“Professor, are you okay?” The older woman asked, cleaning the blood off Byleth’s cheek with a cloth and some water. “You gave us quite a shock, appearing out of nowhere like that.”

“I’m- I’m fine, but what about all of you! You look so… different.”

_ “Of course they do, you were sealed for five years.”  _ Sothis sounds tired.

“You’ve… missed a lot. Let’s get you back to base, the others will want to see you.” Dimitri’s hand never leaves Byleth’s shoulder, it’s a comforting weight in the confusion.

Her students- her children, had all grown up. Maybe not how she had hoped but they had made it. News spread quickly of her return. She was granted her own space soon after arriving to their lodgings, a space quickly invaded by the former lions, eager to see the teacher they once thought murdered in front of them.

As the last of the fog cleared she was able to appreciate how, despite the differences, her children had stayed the same despite the war. Annette had lost the rest of her baby fat but kept her caring disposition, bringing two pots of hot water and an herbal tea blend she said was good for calming people down. Ashe finally hit his growth spurt, unfortunately he also kept the sticky fingers she may have encouraged (it’s not like any lock would keep him out, she just wanted him to be safer when practicing the habit).

Ingrid had become a Great Knight, leading a squadron under the Faerghus Banner. She also seemed disappointed Annette hadn’t made any snacks to pair with the tea, not that she voiced such feelings. Sylvain had been a Paladin under her command for a time before a need for manpower got him his own platoon, his joking flirtations still made her laugh as well.

Dedue had kept up the maintenance on the garden they planted together, Mercedes added that they had expanded the growths to include some medicinal plants as well. Hands so rough and calloused, stained with the blood of the past, being used to nurture life and help others kept hope alive in dire times.

Felix didn’t visit, away on a mission, but the others told her he still strived to become unparallelled with the blade and was making considerable progress compared to what he was like in the academy. His lone wolf tendencies were still there but he had gained a sense of awareness and used his skills to engage in missions better done swiftly and quietly.

And Dimitri, oh Dimitri. He hadn’t left Byleth’s side for more than a couple minutes, as though scared she would disappear should he look away. Time had not been kind to the young man, the stress of war affecting him heavily. Unlike Dedue, he had let the blood stain his skin red. He held every loss close, treating them as a personal failure and a damning fault, weighing down his shoulders like the heavy cape he wore. To see him so rundown made her heart ache, and fear for what he might have become should he let the burden become him.

Seeing her precious charges doing their best to survive in this desperate situation, she knew what purpose she had. Affirming her beliefs, she would strive to lessen the hardships they would face and be a comfort in the bleakness. It was the least she could do.

Hushed whispers of scorn and disbelief were a commonality around her now. Never in earshot of those she called her children, not considering the power they had, but when Byleth was alone there was no such reprieve.

“Claim a heretic of the Church all those years ago.”

“Executed in the courtyard, saw it with my own eyes.”

“No human could survive that, especially looking nary a day older.”

Nonetheless, she held her head high. Not that she wasn’t sympathetic of their… concerns. She had died, many a time in fact, but death would not claim her. Not the first time when she fell before Kostas’ attack, not the dozens of times after. With an ability like that, she really couldn’t claim humanity, a fact she had both laughed and cried over.

The situation was thus, Empire was at war with the Kingdom. Meanwhile the Alliance was merely protecting its borders. Rarely engaging unless someone had set up their encampment a touch too close to the territory lines. The Empire clearly had a plan outside of expansion, it’s attacks targeted not at areas easily overtaken but ones with a larger noble population.

But despite this knowledge their true goal was still unknown. It trouble Byleth, Edelgard, from what little she interacted with the then Empress-to-be, did not strike her as one seeking blood for blood’s sake. Plus the strange beasts that were being sighted with increasing frequency, the reports mainly clustered around the ravaged towns. Were they a tactic of the Empire, or an unintended side effect? There were just far too many questions without concrete answers for anyone to be comfortable.

Crests. She wanted the damned Crests and was willing to wage a war that would devastate the continent for them. It was maddening, insane, and completely illogical! The three lords had interacting civilly at the academy, did she not consider that her words about them would have held weight if she approached them in a diplomatic manner?

It was too late for words now. It was certain the rage within her heart would not subside without the taste of blood. Felix had sent a messenger to the capitol, requesting all the former lions to make their way towards his location, post haste. Though a bit odd, they had complied and made their way to the meeting place. It had to be important for him to request so many high ranking officials, and it was. An important ambush. None of it was Felix’s fault, his body far too cold to have instigated the trap, no that was the work of the cursed illusionist wearing his skin.

The Empire’s army appears on the horizon, lead by the Empress herself, and the battle is on. Blue Lions desperate to avenge their fallen brethren, Black Eagles willing to lay down their lives for the Empress and her cause. Edelgard has attempted to offer mercy, freedom to escape should they hand over their Crests, but her ‘kind’ offer was thrown away in favour of retribution.

Byleth knew things were looking bleak, the gut wrenching cries of her children calling out their fellows names could mean nothing good, but still she fought on. The fog was enveloping her again as she tore through the Empire’s forces, making her way towards the one who starting this suffering.

Edelgard met Byleth’s sword with a rapier, the sight of the thin blade sent a burst of fury through the former professor, the origin not of her own but another. The pair exchanged blow after blow, neither making any headway, until the Empress’s loyal attendant saw it fit to interfere, sending a burst of flames at Byleth. An archer made sure he would not interfere again but it was too late, now knocked off balance, Edelgard had the perfect opening to finish off her opponent.

She lunged-

  
  
  


And the holy blade pierced Dimitri through. The prince collapsed onto the ground, breathing laboured from the blood filling his lungs. Byleth falls to her knees, crawling to where his dying form lay.

“No- no no no no no no no, you idiot! Why did you do that!”

Edelgard stands, shock holding her blade.

“It’s what I deserve…” Words Byleth had never wanted to hear less. Misplaced guilt causing one of her children to take a blow for one who is virtually immortal, though she knew had the blade touched her sealing was the least it would do. As Dimitri’s eyes dimmed and his breathing stopped the former professor felt a white hot anger fill her being. An animalistic scream breaks free from her throat as she stands once again, blade at the ready. Power fills her, dark wisps overtaking her vision as she charges, eager to rend her foe to shreds. Her vision goes dark and-

  
  
  
  


“So, have you put any thought into which house you’d like to lead?”

**Author's Note:**

> imma be real here, i forgot sothis existed until midnight.


End file.
